Sunday, June 06, 2010

A little update

We echo once again the prayer of Paul for the Philippians expressing our gratitude for your untiring partnership.
In all our prayers for all of you, we always pray with joy because of your partnership in the gospel from the first day until now, being confident of this, that he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus.
As of the moment, our mini-orphanage ministry is being sustained because of your prayers.

One morning, as we watched happy children happy and excited preparing for the first day of school, we could not help but thank God for his faithfulness in looking after His children and for connecting us to you as our ministry partner.

Who would have thought that two months ago we almost gave up in getting them to school? One reason is that the Thai schools are giving priority to Thais but because our children are from the Myanmar, they were initially rejected.  Another reason is that our support for their education is very limited nonetheless; we experienced how God provided.

God is answering you prayers for us and we can feel it every moment. Thank you very much.

Children’s Camp in Kok Noi

When we were invited to organize a Children’s camp in Kok Noi, we gladly accepted the challenge. Anyway, we already organized two camps in Mae Sai and Tachilek. This one would be easy thinking that the lessons and the materials were already prepared.

However, we were in for a big surprise. We did not know that Kok Noi although located in Chiang Rai is in the middle of the jungle 45 kilometers from the city with no electricity (although solar panels have been provided by the government) and can only be reached by foot or by a four-wheel drive truck.

God provided a way for us to get there. A Good Samaritan we met along the way gave us a ride on our way to the village. And then a 4-wheel drive truck owned by Compassion International brought us back to the city.

It was a wonderful camp with the children learned English and listened to Bible Stories. Some children from the neighboring village walked for couple of hours and joined the camp.
During our ministry there, God gave us a vision of planting churches in the nearby animist villages. We also see the need to provide home for the children from Myanmar who were given shelter by the villagers to study in the village school.


Seminary Education by Extension (SEE) at Grace Home Kindergarten Center

After Jimi taught music through SEE, the students could not wait for another class. When the Lacquian Family left for home, the burden of continuous theological/biblical education for church leaders falls on my battered shoulders.

When the school opened two weeks ago, we did not anticipate how busy it would be for us bringing and picking up the children from and to the school.  As parents, we need to attend school meetings, talk to the teachers and bury materials and uniform the children need. Hence, we really don’t have the time to offer another SEE class.

Fortunately, another team from Asia Vision Short-Term Missions came and helped us out. My sister Dadai, came back with two short-term missionaries. Longtree Limtag taught “The Panoramic View of the Bible” and Enjae helped in teaching the children Grace Home Kindergarten Center  (GHKC). Incidentally, GHKC hosted SEE for five days. We are thankful to Aye Phet for being a gracious host.
GHKC will host SEE classes in the future.

Narlin Volunteers in Municipal School

Since Aye Phet has been doing a great job at GHKC, Narlin does not need to be around in the center all the time. She now has free time to do other ministries.

Narlin is teaching English at Rong Rian Tesaban 1 every Tuesday and Thursday for two hours each day. This is the same school that our 7 children are studying.

We thank the Lord for this opportunity to be a witness and a blessing to the community.

Prayer Requests

Our visa extension is now being processed at the Rainbow Covenant Foundation. We will receive a phone call anytime now to come to the immigration office. Up to this time, we don’t have specific entity that helps us with our visa expenses. However, God’s provision is always on time.

God has given us the ministry of discipleship and mentoring. We will leave Mae Sai with peace knowing that we were able to train and disciple people to continue the work of the gospel ministry.
Pray for the SEE students. We are making seminary training available to church leaders and workers while they are doing their respective ministries. Please continue to help us to pray for SEE office and training center near the border.

Pray for Narlin as she volunteers to teach in a Thai school. We are expecting to organize more English camps before this year will end.

Pray Jared, Jillian and Reuven’s home schooling. We thank the Lord for School of Tomorrow for making our life easy with our children’s education. But we still have a lot of struggles.

In the last couple of months, God has brought us to different places namely Ban Klang, Mae Salong and a village 14 km from the City of Chiang Rai. God is challenging us to expand our vision.  He is summoning us to get involved in children ministries, church planting and discipleship to the hard reached villages. We will train and mentor locals in starting and sustaining these ministries. This can be done on a regular basis at least twice a month.

Help us to pray for resources. Teaching materials, equipment and a vehicle. Pray also for knowledge, wisdom and empowerment of the Holy Spirit.

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